Jadeite Necklace Sells for Record Price at Hong Kong Auction

A jadeite necklace once owned by U.S. retail heiress Barbara Hutton was bought by the Cartier Collection at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong on Monday evening for 214 million Hong Kong dollars (US$27.6 million), a record price for jadeite jewellery.

The necklace is made up of 27 large jadeite beads, which were given to Hutton from her father, the founder of the Woolworth retail chain, as a wedding present when she married Prince Alexis Mdivani in 1933. The necklace is adorned with a ruby and diamond clasp by Cartier.

Barbara Hutton in the 1930s.

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Cartier emerged as the winner after a bidding war for the necklace that lasted nearly 20 minutes in a room at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The price handily beat the last record for a similar necklace, set at a Tiancheng International auction in Hong Kong in November 2012, when a large jadeite necklace sold for HK$106.2 million (US$13.7 million).

Jadeite is particularly popular among wealthy Chinese collectors, and prices for jadeite items — especially large beaded necklaces — have fetched high prices in recent years at auction. The stone was venerated by the imperial court, which often preferred the stone to other gems such as rubies and diamonds.